Air Society to host paintball event
In a couple of weeks, Logan Canyon will be a war zone. Troopers in camouflage will be crawling through the crevices between trees trying to avoid the gunshots. It will be guerrilla warfare in its most primitive form, a violent means to a very important end – fun.
The Arnold Air Society, a national organization within the Air Force’s ROTC, has organized a paintball tournament for Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost is $20 per person, and includes gun, paint and a pancake breakfast.
“We hope to bring clubs and organizations together to unify the school,” Cadet Brad Bingham said. “It’s a fun way to get to know people. If there’s different clubs out there, people can say ‘hey I want to join that club as well.'”
The tournament is not exclusively for groups however. Bingham emphasized that if a person was not on a team, one would be provided for them.
“We’re hoping to get 100 people, enough that we can have people competing at different levels,” Bingham said.
One would assume the tournament was planned in a recruitment effort, but this is not the case, Cadet Wing Commander Tyler Lake said.
“We did this about a month ago with the cadets and it worked so well we wanted to open it up to the college,” he said. “Our [Arnold Air Society] main objective is leadership. We do this by serving the community.”
Besides, Bingham said the ROTC’s recruitment efforts have been steady since the Sept. 11 tragedy without big recruitment activities. To Bingham the reasons are obvious.
“It’s not a bad way to get through college,” he said. “A lot of us are on scholarship, and those that qualify get stipends ranging from $200 to $350. You also learn a lot of leadership skills – how to contact people, get involved with the community and how to direct people in situations of real life.”
Lake said the ROTC, which stands for Reserve Officer Training Course, is “neither reserve nor a course.” In reality, the program is how the Air Force gets many of its active officers.
“It’s such a big program,” Lake said. “You get a lot of on-the-job training experience that would be hard to get otherwise.”
Both Bingham and Lake are quick to point out the tournament is not associated with the Air Force directly, but through the Arnold Air Society. The society was formed in the memory of Americans who were prisoners of war or missing in action. As far as Utah State University is concerned, the Arnold Air Society does this in a number of ways.
“We perform an active role in the school with color guard, security and being a part of the college of HASS,” Cadet Lt. Col. Lindsey Skelton said. “We give people a better idea of the Air Force, and we do that by being active in the school’s activities.”
Bingham said one goal of the paintball tournament, and the Arnold Air Society as a whole, is to dispel the stereotypical images of the military with the positive reality.
“The TV view isn’t the reality. We don’t just blow things up. There’s a lot of service we do that brings the community together,” Bingham said.
But, as Lake said, although the tournament encourages community involvement and Air Force awareness, above all else “it’s mainly just for fun.”
For more information on either the paintball tournament or the ROTC, call 797-6231 or go to the Military Science Building between the Parking Terrace and the Fieldhouse.